Traditional hip replacement surgery has been used in the United States since as early as the 1960's. The surgical technique to implant a hip has not drastically changed over the years, and today, this technique is quite successful. In fact, the surgical technique is prolifically used throughout the world and has a known success rate of over 90%. Certainly, the traditional surgical technique is fundamentally sound and predictable.
Unfortunately, traditional techniques to implant a hip have well recognized shortcomings. Most importantly, a rather large incision is made on the side of the hip. The incision can extend from 6 to 12 inches; the actual length of the incision depends on the size of the patient and type of surgery (revision versus total hip arthroplasty, for example). A long, deep incision can divide a number of important stabilizing muscles and tendons and further damage the hip joint and surrounding soft tissue. Inevitably, long incisions lead to larger blood losses, longer rehabilitation times for patients, and unsightly scar lines. A patient can easily spend four or five days in the hospital after a total hip arthroplasty, for example.
Recently, surgeons have been developing new, less invasive surgical techniques to perform total hip arthroplasty and revision hip surgery. Minimally invasive surgery, or MIS, is one such technique with great promise to become a popular and accepted technique for implanting a hip.
MIS has significant advantages over traditional hip replacement surgery. Most importantly, a rather small incision is made on the side on the hip. This incision is approximately 3 to 5 inches long, and the benefits of a shorter incision are enormous.
First and foremost, the patient can recover in a much shorter period of time after a MIS. The recuperation time in the hospital can be a few days and significantly reduce the cost to both the patient and hospital. In fact, some patients are leaving the hospital within 24 to 48 hours after the surgery. Obviously, this shortened time period is extremely important to the patient.
As another advantage, MIS is less invasive and traumatic to the patient. Significantly less soft tissue is disrupted in a minimally invasive surgery compared to a traditional hip surgery. Also, the amount of blood loss is reduced, and patients will require fewer blood transfusions. Further, the length of the scar is significantly smaller, and these scars are more cosmetically appealing. The incisions themselves heal in a much shorter period of time and are much less painful than a long ten or twelve inch incision. As such, the patient can sooner return to work or enjoy recreational activities. In short, the patient can more quickly return to a normal way of life.
Presently, instruments to perform MIS are being developed and refined. These instruments have a vital role in the ability to perform a successful minimally invasive surgery. As one important consideration, these instruments must be able to fit through the small MIS incision. Traditional acetabular reamers are typically hemispherical and have relatively large diameters with deep shell heights. These reamers do not fit well through the small MIS incision.
In short, instruments, and in particular acetabular reamers, play a vital role in MIS surgery for hip implantation. It therefore would be advantageous to provide a new acetabular reamer and method of use for performing a minimally invasive surgery to implant a prosthetic hip.